The Venture Capital Trust Fund (VCTF) for the past 20 years has invested more than GH¢359.6 million to support Venture Funds to promote socio-economic devel­opment of the country.Through the support, Venture Funds which had raised capital through the VCTF, had been able to raise GH¢2 billion from other investors to support some Small and Medium-Sized Enterpris­es (SMEs) and start-ups in the country.The Chief Executive Officer of VCTF, Mr Michael Abbey, disclosed this in Accra yesterday during a roundtable for journalists and senior editors to present the highlights from its 20th Anniversa­ry Impact Report.The report which was officially launched in April this year, high­lights VCTF's contributions from 2004-2024, including investments in 14 venture funds and 77 port­folio companies across key sectors like agriculture, manufacturing, healthcare and education.Mr Abbey indicated that the portfolio companies which had benefitted from the Venture Funds had created 28,486 direct and indirect jobs.Mr Abbey said the portfolio companies had paid taxes to the tune of GH¢46.9 million."Our work over the past 20 years has proven that with the right support SMEs can become power­ful engines of growth and innova­tion," the CEO of VCTF stated.Mr Abbey said most of the VCTF's funding came from foreign capital.The dependence on foreign capital, he said, could stifle the growth of the Fund and scaling up of opportunities for business­es."To address this, the Fund is exploring ways to encourage domestic investment, particularly by engaging pension funds to play a more active role in funding the ecosystem," he said.Mr Abbey said the Fund was in discussion with the government under the Edwumawura Fund, which is an initiative with the goal of growing 10,000 startups annu­ally, to provide financial support to the fund.He disclosed that the fund was developing the "Responsibility to Grow" campaign, which encour­ages large businesses in Ghana to contribute a portion of their cor­porate social responsibility budgets to venture funds to support smaller enterprises."Discussions are underway to launch a 24-hour economy SME Equity Fund to assist business­es that want to operate around the clock as part of the national 24-hour economy strategy," Mr Abbey stated.The CEO of VCTF said the fund would explore partnerships to raise more funds to support the growth of SMEs in the country.The General Manager of VCTF, Percival Ofori-Ampomah, said the fund was to empower SMEs to grow, innovate and deliver meaningful impact.He said VCTF did not directly lend to SMEs but rather invest in Venture Funds which in turn invest in thrive SMEs.Mr Ofori-Ampomah entreated SMEs and start-ups to use the VCTF to raise money to fund their businesses.He said the Fund for the past 20 years had supported a lot of thriving SMEs and start-ups to grow.The Venture Capital Trust Fund was established by an act of Parliament into 2004 as a govern­ment-backed fund-of-funds fo­cused on building a robust venture capital ecosystem to support the growth of SMEs in the country. BY KINGSLEY ASARE